


insert tomato pun

by Yuuzel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Bad Flirting, Daichi is Stupid, M/M, Pining, SofA 2020, future/timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24525439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuzel/pseuds/Yuuzel
Summary: Daichi tries to explore his interest in gardening, only to find he is much more interested in his new neighbor.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Sawamura Daichi, Sawamura Daichi & Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51
Collections: Seasons of Anime Exchange 2020





	insert tomato pun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karasunovolleygays](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunovolleygays/gifts).



> Dear Jess, I hope you enjoy your gift!

Daichi had always been vaguely interested in gardening.  
He liked nature, he liked cooking and he liked feeling responsible. When Suga and he had decided to move out of their shared flat, he was very happy to find a conveniently located small apartment complex with a garden for the residents.

Looking at his own patch of the garden made him feel excited. He was already imagining all of the different vegetables he could grow there. After all, homegrown food was supposed to taste better – at least that was what a book he had read in preparation had told him.

Before planting anything new, however, Daichi would first have to weed his little garden, as it was covered in many different plants that were very clearly not vegetables.  
It seemed easy enough, so Daichi simply started pulling out the weeds, making sure to grip them closely to the ground, as to not leave their roots, just like in the book.

After having thoroughly cleaned most of his little garden patch, he felt like taking a break. His hands had started to feel a bit sore, which was weird, considering the calluses that covered them.  
When he looked at his palms, he noticed that they were slowly turning red and itching uncomfortably.

He was really close to taking out his phone to call Suga for advice – Suga's family had a pretty big garden, he had to know something about this. However, a voice and a hand on his left shoulder interrupted him when taking out his phone.

“Hey, you're the one who moved into number four, right?”, the man now standing next to him asked.

He was slightly taller than Daichi, his hair a little lighter and spikier, and his shoulders were broad. Daichi couldn't help but notice that the white T-Shirt provided both an excellent contrast for his tan skin and did a terrible job containing his impressive arms.

Furthermore he noticed that the man's face was not only nice to look at, but also familiar.  
Remembering his manners, Daichi introduced himself. “Yes, I am. Sawamura Daichi, it's very nice to meet you.”

His neighbor's face lit up with recognition. “That's where I know you from! We played volleyball against each other,” he said excitedly and pointed at him.

With the added context of volleyball, it was easy for Daichi to realize where he knew that face from. “I knew you looked familiar, Iwaizumi from Seijou, right?”

“Yup, that's me,” Iwaizumi replied with a grin stretching across his face.

Daichi remembered Iwaizumi relatively well. He remembered that Iwaizumi had been a very challenging opponent and had seemed very well-respected by the other members of the Seijou volleyball team.  
It was easy to see why. Iwaizumi's grin had something reliable about it.

Something about Iwaizumi made Daichi want to talk to him a bit longer, so he looked around, searching for a small-talk topic in his environment. “So, which one of these is yours?” he asked, gesturing towards the row of garden patches.

Iwaizumi pointed to the one right next to Daichi's. “It's this one, I actually came here to clean it up a bit. Want to plant some new stuff soon.”

Meanwhile, Daichi's hands had started to itch even worse. Not necessarily wanting Iwaizumi to notice, he tried to examine them in secret. He failed.

“Hey, did you wear gloves when weeding your garden?” Iwaizumi asked, looking over at the small bucket filled with weeds next to Daichi's garden patch.

“Um, no. Do I need to?”

Giving him a blank stare, Iwaizumi nodded. “Your garden is like, full of nettles. Can I see your hands?”

Iwaizumi didn't wait for an answer, instead, he stepped closer and took Daichi's right hand into his, turning his palms up and whistling lowly.

Daichi winced when Iwaizumi lightly stroked over the inflamed parts with his thumb. “I knew there was something wrong with those plants.”

Abruptly, Iwaizumi dropped Daichi's hand and started to laugh. “So you noticed your hands swelling and didn't do shit about it? You just kept going on?”

“So what if I did?” Daichi pouted. He was no quitter, after all.

Iwaizumi lightly punched his shoulder, took out a pair of gloves and got to work on his own garden. “You should put some ointment on there, or it's going to keep hurting like a bitch. Next time, you can borrow some gardening gloves from me, if you don't have any.”

It felt nice, how familiar Iwaizumi acted with him. He didn't seem intimidated by Daichi in the slightest. Iwaizumi was friendly enough, while also not being scared to speak honestly.  
Moving to a new neighborhood after having lived with Suga all throughout university had been scary. Even if it got annoying sometimes, being one room away from his best friend had been a great experience. They meshed well, both responsible and generally organized people, but it had to end at some point, both of them wanting to build their own lives.

Meeting someone he knew was comforting and Iwaizumi seemed nice. Daichi would have not minded to go on talking to Iwaizumi, but his red palms were burning worse and worse, so he excused himself to tend to them – not without promising to wear gloves next time.

* * *

“Remember that wing spiker from Seijou? Iwaizumi Hajime?” Daichi asked, writing today's lesson plan on the blackboard.

Suga was sitting on the desk at the front of the classroom, sorting through worksheets. “I sure do, what about him?”

“He's my neighbor”, Daichi said and put down the chalk.

Sharing the same workplace was another reason why the two of them did not live together anymore. While there was no person Daichi would rather look after a herd of rowdy nine-year-old children with, there was a limit to how much Suga he could endure in one day.

There was this smile that Suga got whenever he was up to something. The untrained eye would not be able to distinguish it from the bright, friendly smile he was known for.  
Daichi however, knew when to be worried and that right now he should be.

“Is he still hot?” Suga asked innocently.

“Wh- what do you mean 'still'?” Daichi spluttered. “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

Suga shook his head in disappointment. “Oh, come on. You know that you can't lie to me.”  
“Suga, he's my neighbor!”

“I'm not asking you to tell me if you've been planning a wedding when you can't fall asleep,” Suga said while Daichi felt the blood rush to his face, “I just want to know if you think he's attractive.”

Crossing his arms, Daichi made a point to look anywhere except his best friend's face. “Well, I'm not going to tell you.”

Suga walked over to the classroom door, opening it to look if any students had already arrived. “Trust me, you don't have to after whatever that reaction just was.”

* * *

Daichi was putting a thumbs-up sticker on a first-grade math test when the doorbell rang. He was not expecting any visitors or packages, so he waited for a moment, in case it was a prank.  
He was surprised to find Iwaizumi in front of his door when he opened it. Iwaizumi’s face was flushed, his hair slightly disheveled. His pants were stained with dirt. 

“Hey Sawamura,” he said casually.

What Daichi was even more surprised about, was the basket full of tomato plants Iwaizumi was holding in his hands.

“Hey, Iwaizumi-san, can I help you with something?”, Daichi asked, trying and failing to seem casual. Somehow he didn’t know how to naturally position his arms anymore.

Iwaizumi gave him a relaxed grin. “You can take half of these tomatoes from me.”

Why did Daichi’s neighbor suddenly want to give him tomato plants? Were tomatoes a common housewarming gift?

“Um, I appreciate it, but why?”

At that, Iwaizumi’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “For your garden,” he said slowly, “unless you already have something else to plant.”

Oh right, Daichi had a garden now. To his embarrassment, he hadn’t taken a real look at it since getting stung by nettles. It had somewhat put him off gardening for a bit. Nobody had told him that plants could be so angry. 

Daichi straightened his back and nodded. “Right. My garden. Where we met.”

“Yes, that garden. So, do you want the tomatoes?” Iwaizumi smiled encouragingly.

Was Daichi interested in planting tomatoes? He had no idea. Ever since his last failure, he had actually not been to his garden, a little worried about more run-ins with angry plants.

“I like tomatoes!” he blurted out. Daichi really hoped that his confident stance distracted from his awkward words. He needed to pull himself together.

“That's great, if you have time I can show you how to plant them.” Iwaizumi did not seem to be bothered, in fact, he was still smiling.

Daichi had been looking for an excuse to take a break, and he was definitely not against spending time with Iwaizumi, so he agreed.  
“I'll just change my clothes real quick,” he said, gesturing towards his light blue button-down.

“Alright, I'll see you downstairs.” Iwaizumi pointed towards Daichi's chest. “Nice sticker by the way.”

To his shock, Daichi found a sticker shaped like a sun with sunglasses on his shirt. He was going to justify himself by explaining his job and what he had just been doing to Iwaizumi, but the other man was already making his way down the stairs.

Ten minutes later, they were both in the garden, and Iwaizumi was showing Daichi what to do in small steps. He was a good teacher, gave small tips when needed and showed patience whenever Daichi didn't get something right the first time.

Daichi found himself relaxing, it was easier to be around Iwaizumi when they were actively doing something and he was not just flailing around trying not to embarrass himself.  
This was not Daichi's usual reaction to new people, he considered himself a confident man, and found it easy to get along with most. But something about Iwaizumi made him cautious, he intimidated Daichi. He seemed so relaxed and at ease with himself, while Daichi was always doing his best to be aware of his appearance.

“So, when will the tomatoes be ready?” Daichi asked when they were finished. The sight of his garden filled with small green plants made him feel proud somehow. Gardening wasn't dangerous when he had Iwaizumi to help him.

“Probably in late August, so in like, three months,” Iwaizumi answered, not pausing a second to think about his answer. He clearly knew his tomatoes.

Taking the gloves he had borrowed from Iwaizumi off, Daichi stepped closer to him and turned away from the garden. “So, what are we going to do with the tomatoes once they're, um, done?”

“Eat them? What else do you want to do with them?”

Daichi shrugged. He felt Iwaizumi lightly punch him in the arms. It was hard to keep the pained expression up when Iwaizumi was smiling at him.  
“We could cook something together,” Iwaizumi said, raising his voice a bit at the end.

“Sure! Sounds great, I'd love to.”  
Spending more time with Iwaizumi seemed like a great idea.

* * *

Spending more time with Iwaizumi did not turn out to be a great idea.  
It happened almost without Daichi noticing. One week, they only saw each other in the garden, the next week, Iwaizumi was standing in front of his door with two beers and a bag of chips.  
(“You're watching the game tonight, aren't you?”)

Iwaizumi simply invited himself into Daichi's home and into Daichi's life, like it was a natural thing to do.  
And it was. Daichi quickly noticed that Iwaizumi and he were similar and different in all the right ways.  
They liked the same brand of beer, their ethical views matched up perfectly, they valued many of the same traits in people. They both insisted that reliability and honesty were important to them and yet were best friends with men who might have as well been trickster gods disguised as humans.  
By the time their tomato plants grew green little orbs, Daichi’s awkwardness had vanished. It was hard to stay awkward around Iwaizumi when they spend so much of their time together, gardening, going to the gym, watching the volleyball matches of their high school friends on TV.  
It was fun, talking to each other was easy, comfortable. Iwaizumi was more easy-going than Daichi, but he was reliable and sturdy. He was comfortable.

Which was exactly why spending more time with Iwaizumi had been a terrible idea. 

Daichi shouldn’t have felt comfortable enough around Iwaizumi to brush the dirt out of his face in the garden, to look at his biceps a second too long at the gym, and to rest his head on the other’s shoulder when the living room got a little too dark and the television screen a little too bright. But he did and it felt great. 

* * *

The green little tomatoes soon turned orange.  
“I don’t get it. Why do the plants on your side look so much better?” Daichi looked at the sad little tomato plant in front of him. “We’ve been doing the exact same things.”  
Iwaizumi, no Hajime he wanted to be called now, crouched down next to him. He was so close that their foreheads almost touched. “Who knows, maybe I’ve been sneaking off at night to do some extra gardening.” 

Shit, he was really close. Daichi could feel Hajime’s breath on his cheek.  
Abruptly, Daichi stood up, knocking into Hajime on his way.

“Anyways,” Hajime cleared his throat, “we have to harvest them pretty soon. My mother has this really good tomato curry recipe, it’s not too difficult and it tastes kinda fancy.”  
Daichi nodded. “Sounds good!”

“They probably need one more week. We can pick them a few days before they’re completely ready though,” Hajime said.

It was perhaps a bit weird how impressed Daichi was by Hajime’s tomato knowledge, but he was. He could have just googled the information on his own, but somehow he liked Hajime explaining things to him. It was nice to let someone else carry responsibility without feeling the need to supervise. Daichi simply trusted that Hajime would know what to do.  
But the more trust Daichi put into Hajime, the less trust he had for himself to ignore what was brewing in him every time he looked at the other man.  


* * *

Daichi was going to hang out with a good friend. There was no reason to worry about his appearance. There was even less reason to take a photo of the bathroom mirror in his nice yellow button-up and send it to Suga.  
Still, he felt the tension in his shoulders ease a little when Suga replied with a thumbs-up emoji and a kissy face.  
So what if Daichi spent a little longer than usual ruffling through his hair and rolled up his sleeves.

When he pressed Hajime’s doorbell, Daichi’s hands shook a little.  
He had seen Hajime’s smile hundreds of times during the last few months, and it had looked amazing every time, but it never had it come close to the wide grin on his face right now.  
Hajime’s smile was not the only thing looking nice about him right now, Daichi had to suppress a laugh when he saw that Hajime was sporting a pale blue button-up with rolled-up sleeves. 

“So, who is gonna go home and change?” Hajime asked while Daichi was taking off his shoes. 

“Definitely not me, I spent way too much time picking this out.”

The smirk that appeared on Hajime’s face very quickly made Daichi regret those words. Now Hajime knew that he made an effort, and could get the wrong idea. Or well, the right idea, but that was out of the question. Hajime was a good friend and Daichi had no plans of ruining that.

Cooking with Hajime was pleasant, working with him in the kitchen made Daichi imagine what it would have been like to play volleyball with him. Was Hajime this considerate, patient and helpful on the court?

Their conversation was casual, not exactly small talk, and not exactly anything too personal. It mostly revolved around Hajime’s work as a physical therapist, as Daichi was currently on summer break.  
As always, talking to Hajime was fun, but Daichi felt like they were avoiding something, like there was something simmering beneath the surface.  
The avoiding was becoming more and more difficult, it was absolutely unfair that Daichi was forced to stand so close to Hajime in a cramped kitchen the first time he had the opportunity to see him in a button-up shirt. 

When Daichi forgot to use potholders for lifting the lid off the bubbling curry, he internally blamed it on Hajime’s tan forearms. 

“Shit!” he called out, clutching his hand.

“Burned yourself?” Hajime asked.

And suddenly Daichi felt Hajime’s hand around his and Hajime was guiding him towards the sink and Hajime was holding his hand and letting cool water run over it.  
This was very bad. Daichi could feel his friend’s breath on the back of his neck, and his chest against his back. He tried to focus on the water running over his hand, but all he could think about were Hajime’s fingers on his.  
Still, the strong presence behind him was comforting and calming. Yet somehow, while Daichi’s breathing became calmer, he could only feel Hajime’s breaths become more and more fast. 

“I think I’m good,” Daichi mumbled and pulled his hand out of the sink. Even when he turned around, Hajime still did not let go of his hand.  
Instead, he stared at Daichi with an expression he had not yet seen on Hajime. His eyes were wide, his eyebrows furrowed, his mouth open and there was an adorable blush spreading over his cheeks.  
Hajime clasped Daichi’s hand with both of his own and kept staring at him. 

“Hajime,” Daichi asked, “Is everything okay?”

Hajime’s voice was quieter than he had ever heard. “I’m glad you didn’t go home to change your clothes. You look good. Really, really good.”

Now Daichi’s mouth was open as well. 

“And I-” Hajime kept going, “I think I really need to kiss you.”

How did he expect Daichi to answer that? Like he hadn’t just spent half an hour trying desperately to stop himself from kissing the wrinkly space between Hajime’s eyebrows.  
So Daichi just kept staring at Hajime, which turned out to be the wrong course of action when Hajime’s face started to fall. 

“You don’t have to reply. I’m sorry if I misread the situation.” The defeat in Hajime’s voice shook Daichi out of his paralysis. 

He could not let himself be the reason for Hajime’s voice sounding this way. So Daichi, of course, went on to do the most responsible thing: Frantically grab Hajime’s shoulders, push him against the kitchen counter, and press their foreheads together.

“Hajime,” Daichi whispered.

He didn’t get a choice to continue his sentence, which he didn’t know if he would have been able to anyway - being so close to Hajime made thinking difficult.  
Luckily, Hajime’s mouth on his own gave him a good reason to abandon all rational thought.  
The kiss was soft, Daichi had been using lip balm for weeks, in preparation for a kiss he hadn’t actually thought would happen. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Hajime did the same.

Daichi’s hands slid down to Hajime’s waist and just like always, Daichi and Hajime fit together perfectly, and Daichi couldn’t imagine that just five minutes ago he had been completely set on depriving himself of kissing Hajime. 

“Daichi,” Hajime said against Daichi’s lips while playing with the hair at the back of Daichi’s neck, “the curry is waiting.” 

Playfully, Daichi nudged Hajime’s forehead and kissed the space beneath his left eye. “But I’ve been waiting for a lot longer.”

“Do you not want to eat dinner?”  
The stern look in Hajime’s eyes made Daichi let out a chuckle. Of course, they had to feel the same. Of course, Hajime liked him. 

Of course, Daichi had no choice but to constantly look up from his bowl of curry rice at the perfect man who was actually sitting in front of him and looking back at Daichi.  
He almost felt bad for the tomatoes, Hajime demanding all of his attention instead. Suga would probably later ask him if homegrown tomatoes tasted any different and Daichi would not be able to answer.

“Daichi you can look at your food. I’m not going anywhere.”

In the end, Daichi was still only vaguely interested in gardening. He had however discovered something, someone much more interesting through it. And he had a feeling that Hajime would stay interesting to him for a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> When I got the assignment, I was super happy, because Daichi and Iwaizumi are two of my favorite characters, but also a bit intimidated because of being assigned a writer who I really admire!  
> I had a lot of fun writing this, even though it was a challenge at times.  
> Only in hindsight, I realize that I used "green orbs" to refer to tomatoes.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
